Seattle’s Nikkei & West Coast Urban History

Historian Shelley Lee presents "Gateway to the Orient: Seattle's Nikkei and West Coast Urban History." Through the case of Japanese Americans in Seattle, Washington, before World War II, this talk explores the significance of U.S. Pacific expansion and Japanese migration for West Coast urban development, and how, in turn, the Pacific port’s pursuit of status as a “gateway to the Orient” shaped the lives of its Asian residents.

Lee is an associate professor of history and comparative American studies at Oberlin College. She is the author of two books, "Claiming the Oriental Gateway: Prewar Seattle and Japanese America" (2011) and "A New History of America" (2013). She is currently working on a project about post-1965 Korean immigration and urban politics in Los Angeles.

Hosted by the Center for Asian American Studies with support from the Institute for Historical Studies.